Early sunset to the false start of a stolen election

The past few days have been an indictment to Zanu PF, its politics of falsehoods and the habit of stealing elections.

Developments have exposed the pretenders in Zanu PF, that the talk of reform is a lie, their promises are fake and that the talk of forex deals are not real.

Sadly this is at the expense of the Zimbabwean people who have to endure intensified suffering.

The long queues in all the major cities, continued bread shortages and spiraling price hikes are a disturbing phenomenon to the nation, we cannot be silent and pretend all is well while the people are exposed to incessant suffering.



We affirm that the crisis has gone beyond Zanu PF's capacity to ameliorate the economic catastrophe.

Its manifesto was void on ideas, and was characterised by economic folktales, unrealistic dreams, archaic dirigiste methods and populist rhetoric sandwiched in slogans not backed by proper plans.

To make matters worse the man tasked with economic recovery is Mthuli Ncube a guy who had nothing to do with the writing of the dump manifesto.

Not only that, but that he is a person of questionable integrity who does little to bring credibility in the national leadership and clean the high country risk profile of Zimbabwe.

He was the Managing Director of a fund which is involved in a global scandal which has resulted in the arrest of two of his associates including the son of former Angolan President Dos Santos.

There was a serious security lapse in the intelligence community of Zimbabwe when Ncube was appointed Treasury Chief.

Even before the arrests, his background checks could have revealed his links to the scandal.

It does not matter that the courts are yet to deal with the issue but a person with such credentials cannot be suitable to be head of a Finance Ministry of a fragile economy.

Now state failure looms and Ncube proves helpless.

Ncube's attempt to increase tax is acceptance of a failure in seeking external funding.

His presence does not do any good especially with confidence deficiencies around the government.

When all has been said and done the buck stops with Mnangagwa who is not only the appointing authority but also failing to provide leadership out of the crisis.

An individual in authority whether de facto or de jure has an obligation to deliver.

We therefore hold him accountable for outsourcing an out of touch Finance Minister who is clueless, spineless and lacks care for the working people of Zimbabwe.

You cannot steal an election for purposes of self-aggrandisement, enjoying the benefit of theft must come with taking the responsibility of delivery.

We make the point that failure to act now may result in the masses losing patience resulting in social unrest and instability.

We therefore demand that Mnangagwa accept that he has failed, equally Mangudya, Ncube and the whole bunch must resign.

The balance sheet of a stolen election is there for everyone to see.

Zimbabwe cannot be a ship without a captain, sailing radar-less, clueless and leaderless.

We restate that legitimacy issues must be dealt with urgently, national dialogue must be done in respect of President Chamisa's suggestions, political reforms must be prioritized to avoid future electoral problems and more importantly an urgent adoption of an economic recovery program in the form of the Zimbabwe Emergency Economic Rescue Program articulated in our SMART blueprint.

Clr Jacob Mafume
MDC National Spokesperson